Commscope, Inc.

Rob Wessels

Gary Craton

Neeli Soundararajan

Trent Hayes

There is disclosed a communications cable having a cable jacket and a first pair of twisted wires disposed within the jacket, each wire thereof having a conductor surrounded by a first insulating material. A second twisted pair of wires is disposed within the jacket and has a twist lay length different from that of the first twisted pair. Each wire of the second twisted pair has a conductor surrounded by an insulating material. The insulating material of the first twisted pair differs in a physical property from the insulating material of the second twisted pair, the physical property of the insulating material of the second pair being correlated with the physical property of the insulating material of the first twisted pair and with differences in twist lay length of the first and second twisted pairs so that the phase delay of the twisted pairs is matched. There is also provided a communications cable having more than two twisted pairs. The insulating materials include polyolefins such as polyethylene, and fluorinated polymers such as fluorinated ethylene-propylene. The insulating material may be used as either a solid or foamed material covering the conductor. These insulated wires may be used in the transmission of electronic signals in a plenum-rated communications cable.

Twisted pairs communications cable

There is disclosed an insulating composition comprising a mixture of a polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, and a partially fluorinated copolymer such as ethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene (ECTFE) or ethylene-trifluoroethylene (ETFE) in an amount from about 3.0% to about 50% by weight polyolefin. Such mixture may be used as either a solid or foamed insulation over a metallic conductor in a plenum-type communications cable. Such an insulation has been found to have improved mechanical and electrical properties over insulations consisting of 100% ECTFE or ETFE. Specifically, the insulation exhibits improved elongation performance and lower dielectric constant and dissipation factor values. These insulated wires may be used in the transmission of electronic signals, such as voice, data or video, and possess unique properties in electrical, fire safety and cost performance. The insulated cable is made by extruding a mixture of the polyolefin and partially fluorinated copolymer, such as ETFE or ECTFE, onto a metal conductor wire. Additional flame retardants, compatabilizing agents and processing aids may also be added to the mixture. If a foamed insulation is desired, a suitable nucleator and blowing agent may be added.

Insulating composition, insulated plenum cable and methods for making

A fire-resistant plenum-type electrical cable is provided that is insulated with an inner layer of a fluorocarbon containing polymer in contact with a surrounding electrical conductor, and an outer layer of abrasion-resistant polyvinyl chloride surrounding the inner fluorocarbon containing polymer layer. The inner layer of fluorocarbon containing polymer may be foamed.

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Hickory, NC, United States of America

Rob Wessels